Category Archives: Sustainable Lifestyle Coach

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I tried algae for the first time – except for kombu algae and similar, which I used to eat while living in Japan. I tried organic algae hand-harvested on the West coast of Irland – so they write on the label.

Are you wondering about the taste? It is… ehm… peculiar. I didn’t dislike it though. In my opinion, the taste resembled much that of seafood – seafood towards the harbour O.0

It all comes down on how you combine them – see below under “How do I eat algae”.

Because they are a kind of food as for now produced in an ultra sustainable way and they are super nutritious. For example, 100g of algae contains on avarage 200% of the RDA of Vitamin B12, 480% of the RDA of calcium and 241% of RDA of magnesium. In fact, they are a superfood. And if you are a real Green Addict like me, you’d like to think of where your food comes from and you’d strive to eat as local as possible. Contrary to many superfoods praised by numerous health coaches, this superfood is currently available in Europe, so it does not have to travel long before hitting your table.

How do I eat algae?

Put it on the top of your soup or in the salad, instead of croutons. They are dried and crunchy, which makes it a nice texture contrast. Try it on fresh peas homemade soup… it blends in the flavor very well!

Good luck with your experiments in the kitchen,

GA

PS: I bought wild organic algae called “Atlantic Carragheen”, or “Chondrus Crispus”. I found them at the bio supermarket NaturaSì.

During my time living in Copenhagen I was a member of an organic local veggie association. Every week I used to go pick up my “dose” of vegetables taking with me a canvas bag, filling it up with potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, salad, beetroots – and again a lot of potatoes, beetroots, potatoes, beetroots, potatoes, beetroots… well, that’s what they eat over there :).

Although we are not lacking similar veggie group purchasing in Italy (es. Cortilia in Milan), I didn’t get the chance to become a member of any of those yet. But I think today I will take action against it, as I was completely shocked at seeing the enormous amount of plastic is used in packaging in supermarkets. I mean, I knew it before… but today I looked down to the cart and…

It kind of hurt my eyes…

And my heart. Think about how much petroleum, processing energy, CO2 emissions, transportation costs, toxins and mould on our food we can save, just by avoiding packaged fruits & vegetables.

Next time you are at the grocery store… Think about this post. Let’s make a change together!

“Sorry if we used plastic for packaging, but please do recycle it” – What?! Are you kidding me? Of course I will recycle it.

That’s the least I could do, but you, dear producer, should just stop filling up my house, my fridge and my cabinets of it. You and I, we both deserve to nurture ourselves – and leave on a cleaner, healthier Planet.

Holidays! While the majority of us Italians are spending the first long weekend of summer at the seaside, I decided to go relaxing at the Armonia Festival hosted by the beautiful Castle of Belgioioso, not so far from Milan.

There I lost myself into the harmonious vibe coming from all over the places, dancers, musicians, qi-gong, masseurs, and…

A mind-blowing approach to healthy and natural sleeping… Check out Pedano, true excellence for your back, body and rest.

Walter and his didgeridoo, music for the soul from the traditions of Australia.

My eco-friendly outfit today is made of second hand clothing, social impact necklace Bead for Life (which I told you about a few days ago here), handmade hay wallet – a souvenir from my spiritual trip to Thailand and my fave healthiest shoes ever Vivobarefoot.

I’m so excited to announce I have opened my first MeetUp group as a facilitator of a local green lifestyle community. I live in a city close to Milan that hosts one of the biggest fenced public parks in Europe, a bomb of energy, natural scents and greenness… Welcome to Monza!

Tip #1 • Treat your staff well

If you are organizing an event that brings some good to society, young volunteers will run to help you. However, you should not forget to treat them right. If they have fun and enjoy working at the sustainable event, they will have a good memory of sustainability and the people gravitating around the so-called ‘conscious’ world. You give us all a favour by making possible for young people to associate positive experiences to sustainability, as they will remember it over time – and probably a sustainable mindset will influence their mindset as young parents and adults.

Tip #2 • Substitute neck straps with everlasting beautiful necklaces

It is difficult to produce a zero impact event. AGICES – the producers of the Fair & Ethical Fashion Show had the wonderful idea of substituting ugly, anonymous and environmentally non-friendly neck straps with beautiful necklaces from the Bead for Life collection. There is no waste and the volunteers will keep the necklace as a conscious gift to themselves.

I myself have bought Bead for Life jewellery a few years ago and I’m happy to see this project is still alive. They make eco bijoux by turning used colored paper into beads and they realize colorful, elegant and unique bio accessories. Moreover, by purchasing a Bead for Life eco accessory you will assist a social project to eradicate poverty in some areas in Africa (Uganda, Kenya, and others).

How often are images of fresh veggies and healthy food published online, compared to junk food alluring pics? Let’s revert the trend! Eat organic F&V, take a nice shot and show the world!
Video casted from http://www.foodpornindex.com/

The smart communication initiative created by Bolthouse Farms will be showcased next month at the Partnership for a Healthier America’s summit, with keynote speaker Michelle Obama.

Sometimes environmental campaigns are gloomy and insistent. I believe these posters are clear, beautiful, explanatory and amusing enough to win the Green Addict award of best environmental campaign of the year!

Creative director: Andrew Hofmeyr

Customer: SANCCOB, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds

Like this:

As I finished my blush that I had bought on Ecocose almost one year ago, I googled “discount natural blush” to see if I could hit any offer in Denmark, oh beloved expensive country. Everyday is a new learning, I came across this incredibly easy recipe to make homemade blush myself. The only ingredients you need are:

Corn starch

Beet root powder

Picture from A Blossoming Life.com

Which country better than Denmark offers a variety of beetroots? Instead of buying the beet root powder, I thought I could do it myself. Digging a bit into it, I found this other blog with indications for DIY beet root powder. I just got red beets in my weekly organic veggie bag from KBHFF this week… now I know how to color up this rainy weekend!

A few days ago we organized a dinner with friends to try out Høkasse, the slowcooking appliance that doesn’t require energy at all while cooking. Slowcooking is a well-known cooking technique to chefs and gourmands, yet not commonly used by regular people. With our rushy lifestyle, how on earth can we have time to slowcook for 5-6 hours?? Surprisingly enough, it’s pretty quick to cook with the Høkasse… actually I think it’s quicker than regular cooking on the stove!

My friend V. and I decided to do our first experimento on a Sunday. In the morning we went to have breakfast together and grocery shopping. We got home aroud midday and we cut vegetables and prepared the meat for the Ossobuco recipe. We put the pot with meat and vegetables on the cookstove for only 10 minutes, unitl well heated up. Then we put it straight into the Høkasse, closed the lid and… Forgot about it! 🙂 We enjoyed our free time for the rest of the day until we enjoyed our delightful slowcooked meal in the evening!

You have to try out the experience yourself! You’ll be surprised by the lovely newly harvested taste of vegetables, meat and potatoes when cooked in the Høkasse…

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m a swap market fan and here is why:

– You can find crazy things for free that seem to be made only for you (like the Italy T-shirt I’m wearing in the picture)

– You get to try different style of clothes you would have never bought otherwise

– You live the thrill of the treasure hunting… and it’s a lot of fun!

Watch the video

As part of my volunteering activities at oikos Copenhagen*, together with the EventLab team, I organized an event to raise awareness about sustainable fashion consumption. As our guest speakers, we had the pleasure to host Sarah Netter, CBS researcher at Minstra Future of Fashion, and Johanna Topoocoo, project manager at Danish Fashion Institute (DAFI). Following the learning through experience format, part of the event was a real swap market, where people could trade used clothes and accessories in good conditions for free.

My friend Julie Sunflower joined the event and she realized this footage for her videoblog. She got very nice stuff from the swap… I just realized I was too busy with my PR activities :D! Follow Julie on Instagram!

Thank you for sharing!

Stills from the video

*WHAT IS OIKOS
oikos is a non-profit student organization, which brings together university students living in Copenhagen interested in environmental, social and financial sustainability and responsible business. Their main tool for increasing awareness about sustainability issues
is organizing and hosting events. oikos-copenhagen.org.